Oh, Italy. You are so much different than France. Today we got to tour a little bit of Italy since we got here! YAY! I love when I actually get to go out and walk the streets of a new place.

This morning we started out with breakfast at 7 am. I had a cappuccino (by now I think you guys probably expect to hear that!) and some eggs on toast, yogurt, bread and butter, and I think that was it. But, of course, who even remembers what they’ve had to eat in the morning! SO much happens throughout a day that it’s such a small detail.

Today was the day that we had to pack a smaller luggage bag for just a three-day journey to a new hotel. We are going to be doing a lot of touring and since the original hotel is hours away, thank goodness we have another place to stay that is centrally located in the places we will be seeing.

We packed our bags, put them on the bus, and started our journey to Siena, Italy. The bus ride was pretty long, but I had two seats all to myself so I had plenty of space to take a couple of naps along the way. As well as getting some of that math homework out of the way…

Since I’ve been in Italy, I’ve been able to meet a couple of people and for that, I am very grateful. In Paris, I felt a little lonely just because there wasn’t really anyone to talk to other than my grandparents and even though I love them, it’s nice to meet new faces and hear new stories of other travelers.

When we finally arrived in Siena, we had to wait about thirty minutes for our tour guide to arrive. When she finally did, we set out to explore. Italy is just so beautiful. There are mountains everywhere with houses and villages on them and the town even had a homelike feel to it. Not a Cincinnati home feeling, but a warm, rustic feel to it. Everything seems a lot older in Siena, but the style is still very modern. People do wear a lot of hats here and dresses and seems more like traveling clothes while in France everyone was very classy.

As you walk down the stone streets of Italy, there are many marketstands for jewelry, handbags, clothes, and all sorts of knick-knacks. All of the buildings are very close together and so the stores and restaurants are only a couple of feet apart. There are also so many stone hill paths! You will have to walk up and down the steepest walkways.

Italy, at least in Siena, is very crowded! I’ve never seen so many people in such a small street all going in the exact same direction. It’s just a current of people hopping from store to store. And to make it worse, cars will just come honking down the flooded paths of people and you just have to hope and pray that you won’t get hit! Cars will always randomly try and drive the streets when there isn’t really much room for driving at all! They should get rid of cars in that area altogether if you ask me…

I love the stone around here; for walls, on buildings, on the streets. It just gives the area such an older, medieval feel. Flags are everywhere. Flowers are everywhere. And the colors on some of the houses are so bright and fun!

There are so many teenagers in Siena compared to France. But, a big part of that is the University of Siena. There are a lot of younger people who run the streets with their friends and take pictures together while eating gelato. It really makes me miss my friends at times.

Before we started our guided tour, we were given about 45 minutes to go somewhere and eat. I really wanted some Italian pizza so we stopped at a pizzeria. It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had but it definitely did satisfy. I really liked the thin breaded crust. After a quick bite, we headed out to find some gelato! I chose a nice strawberry gelato and it was absolutely delicious. It reminded me of sorbet. Considering the heat outside (it was INCREDIBLY hot!), the gelato really was enjoyable.

After my first gelato adventure bite, we took a small tour around Siena with our guide. She talked very slow and I think she was a little tired. And considering we traveled on a bus for hours to get here, you could imagine how it would drag a little.

But! After the tour ended we headed back on the bus for about a two-hour ride back to our new hotel. Funny thing though was that the tour guide told my grandparents and I that apparently the people who were supposed to leave their room this morning to give to us had to go to the hospital because one of them got very ill. SO what that meant for us was that we had to go stay at the hotel around the corner away from the rest of our group. At first, the situation seemed a little unfortunate but when we came to our new hotel and I was given the news that I would get my own room, I was more than satisfied. It’s so nice to have some alone time after spending a lot of time touring with a huge group of people and I feel very blessed about the situation.

ALSO! My room has a big bed, its own bathroom, walk-in closet, desk, balcony, TV, and free wifi…nothing could be better than this! Even the view from the balcony is absolutely splendid! I am very grateful that I get to spend my next three days here and the walk to the other hotel for meals is not a hassle at all.

When we got settled into our rooms, we decided to head out for our dinner at the other hotel. We got to the hotel dining area and man…that place looked like it was set up for a wedding. It was so fancy. For dinner, we had sparkling water, white wine, and red wine to drink, bread, a breaded tomato “soup,” Chicken and mashed potatoes, and a wonderful chocolate and cream swirl pastry and a cappuccino for dessert.

I swear, I’ve been eating so much here that I’m going to come back to Ohio with an added 100 lbs to my body. I’ve never seen so much food and the 8 day Feast of Tabernacles hasn’t even started yet! They are definitely going to have to roll me back to the United States because I feel like a bowling ball.

Tomorrow I am traveling to Florence and I am so excited! Everyone keeps telling me that it is such a beautiful place and the buildings are huge and gorgeous! My aunt also told me that it is a great place for shopping for clothes so I am very VERY excited and hopefully I spend a good deal of money! (;

Lots of pictures from today so I hope you enjoy!

Laurel ❤

P.S. Dear boy who is my age and sat behind me on the bus,

Please talk to me because you are the only person my age here and it would be nice to have a friend and talk to a teenager for once.

Thank you, kindly.

Uncategorized Europe travel